Cartographer's Chisel speculation thread

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Peppers wrote:

I also don't have a clue, but just hope it is not some kind of charm mechanic. Clogging your inventory for some extra stats is something I really hated about D2 LoD.

+1
Hope this really map ,not a charm.

I really do think that the 'map' really does open a secret/lost level like in Torchlight (and apparently Mythos?). I believe the Chisel will work like Armor Shards and Whetstones currently do, with them adding 5% quality to white maps, 2% to magic and 1% to rare (unique maps?). I also believe that quality on maps will increase the quantity of items dropped throughout the entire map and that maps will drop with varying rarities and that the current orbs can be used to increase the rarity (e.g. Transmutation to magic and magic to rare with Regal).

I would think that maps would have varying mods based on item level (i.e. the level they were dropped in), players could only use maps at or below their current level. Map mods could either add player mods like those in the Item Data or Monster mods.

Item Data Mods would be like Magpies for increased rarity, Prism for all elemental resistances, +armor %/flat amount and possibly even spell/physical/elemental damage or cast/attack speed to applicable monster types (e.g. cast speed would do nothing for melee). This way, you could use a lightning resistance map to provide a real challenge for a Spark character (as monsters would be more likely to have lightning resistance) or be easier for a Fireball character as the monsters would be less likely to resist fire.

Monster mods would be that rarity would allow you to 'choose' from the current monster mods like additional health, aura types and resistances, etc. With that, rare monsters would be most likely to spawn with say reflect physical damage and you use elemental damage...

This would thereby allow for a customizable end game. You want an easy map choose this, or a hard one choose to use that...

What I hope for most if these maps are creating random dungeons, is that the randomization in these maps is a lot higher than in the normal game.
Currently you always know where to run to and how the level is structured, but with those dungeons created by items, I hope we see total randomization of the whole layout.
Don't know if that's even possible with the PoE engine anymore, now that the set pieces were designed for the structured layout...

A good thing would be if GGG brings User Created Content in this Game and with the Maps we can get Access to it.
So e.g. a User can Design a Dungeon + Enemies for it. GGG take the bests designed Dungeons and balance the loot and the Enemies for the Dungeon, create a new Map and add it to the game.

But i don´t believe we will ever see sth. like this :D

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golem09 wrote:

What I hope for most if these maps are creating random dungeons, is that the randomization in these maps is a lot higher than in the normal game.
Currently you always know where to run to and how the level is structured, but with those dungeons created by items, I hope we see total randomization of the whole layout.
Don't know if that's even possible with the PoE engine anymore, now that the set pieces were designed for the structured layout...

It's definitely possible to randomize more than is currently done. One problem is that there are only so many twists on the same types of area they can have (How else could the ledge be done? Or a beach?), and they prefer for all the exits to be in certain places so that they are consistent with the world map. As a result, the level layout is usually pretty similar because the level structure has to make some sense. One problem with D1 and sometimes D2 was that you would occasionally enter a dungeon and the boss' area or the stairs down would be right next to you. I think they've tried to avoid that.

There still is some randomization, but it isn't very deep compared to what D2 gamers are used to.

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sYkoDe4d wrote:

A good thing would be if GGG brings User Created Content in this Game and with the Maps we can get Access to it.
So e.g. a User can Design a Dungeon + Enemies for it. GGG take the bests designed Dungeons and balance the loot and the Enemies for the Dungeon, create a new Map and add it to the game.

But i don´t believe we will ever see sth. like this :D

User created dungeons sounds like a great idea until you realize it'd be just as good to just grab a tileset, click "randomize" and be done with it.

My guess is that they are just to improve the quality of an existing zone instance. Like, a chisel on Submerged Passage will give either more bosses or more loot. A chisel on Fellshrine might give less than the chisel did for Submerged Passage. You can use multiple chisels on a map and just clear it for loots. That's what I'm thinking it's going to be, it makes the most sense to me.

right click map item ( bottom left corner broken stone tablet )
opens portal
enter portal
random generated zone like maelstrom of chaos equal to your current level

improvement to that map item with this cartographer item equals more rare and magic monsters.

Considering that you chisel into the map, wouldn't it mean that if for some reason you missed something in the area you wouldn't be able to see it in the map? i mean honestly you "skipped" that area so it would be missing in your map. I think this adds a bit of reality to the game and something to get people to go back and re-explore that area. Let's say that someone missed a part of the area, and they didn't know they missed it, and there was this HUGE awesome treasure, wouldn't you want to go back to see it? You obviously would, but since it is not to your knowledge that you skipped this area, you wouldn't know that you missed some HUGE awesome treasure unless you went to that area and saw a very hard boss and just ran away. O.O
But then again, if you never had a map when you were the level that was low enough to get that area while making it challenging and more enjoyable, why would you go back to that area now that you have awesome gear? So instead of just making a map that you can carve into, why not make it so that areas adjust to your level and expertise, like in GW2. If you think you can't do this area at let's say, Insane, then you could tune it down to Normal or Easy at the cost of better gear being lost to the lowering of difficulty. This would also allow you to go back to zones that you really enjoyed, but with different monsters and/or bosses. And if the function of the chisel is for there to be more loot and monsters in an area, shouldn't it also add more passageways and make the area bigger? It would be logical since an area that you've wiped out of monsters should just suddenly teleport monsters from wherever they are from back to that place? It would be smarter to make it so that the chisel unlocks secret passages, and the higher the quality of the chisel, the more passageways it unlocks, or the passageway(s) instead of being some uncommon loot it might be super-rare loot? This is what I think of some various functions of a chisel.